Comments on: Tangled in my own parachutes.

By: Greg Matthews

Greg Matthews — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:14:59 +0000

I've been pondering this sentence:

"I’ve realized that when you try too hard to keep everything open-ended, you end up letting doors close behind you by accident, as opposed to choosing which ones to walk away from."

I'm a pretty big fan of going with the flow, and it's generally worked pretty well for me. But I'm also pretty bad at actually making decisions ... I prefer to have a roomful of open doors around me at all times, so that I can decide on the spur of the moment which one(s) to walk through.

But I hadn't really thought much about the way that doors close accidentally. Thanks for awakening a new little bit of my consciousness!

By: Kat

Kat — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:22:51 +0000

Hey, Greg. The thing with those accidental closures, in my experience, is that you have this moment of disorientation. Suddenly, that particular door seems waaaaaayyy more appealing than it did before it closed on you.

And then you (or really more accurately, I) angst about whether you should have gone through it. Although, most of the time, the answer will end up being “No, because if you should have, you would have.”

But I think all those open doors sometimes create a low-level “buzz” of distraction. They’re “open loops.” So intentionally closing some can sometimes free up a little mental hard drive space.

By: Greg Matthews

Greg Matthews — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:34:04 +0000

I’ve been pondering this sentence:

“I’ve realized that when you try too hard to keep everything open-ended, you end up letting doors close behind you by accident, as opposed to choosing which ones to walk away from.”

I’m a pretty big fan of going with the flow, and it’s generally worked pretty well for me. But I’m also pretty bad at actually making decisions … I prefer to have a roomful of open doors around me at all times, so that I can decide on the spur of the moment which one(s) to walk through.

But I hadn’t really thought much about the way that doors close accidentally. Thanks for awakening a new little bit of my consciousness!

By: Coming into focus. | Internet Bard

Coming into focus. | Internet Bard — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 11:04:54 +0000

[...] as part of my “deciding where I want to go as opposed to just following the current” thing I’m in the middle of right now, I decided to figure out how I want to be [...]

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:48:42 +0000

I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s loss. And I can say from my own grieving experiences, you’re probably right.

Plans are often futile, but I think we gain something from making them. That’s what I think I was missing these last couple of years. I’ll always roll with the punches–it’s part of that whole INFP temperament–but the act of making plans, of looking forward and imagining something that could be, has value.

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:04:58 +0000

Our first family vacation was rocked with the death of my mother in law. She passed peacefully, in her sleep. But, and this is the thing: we had a great time. Which is driving my wife crazy. Still, tragedy needs time. Time will pass, we'll relive things, plans will change, live will move on. Actually, life moves on no matter what you do. In hindsight, my wife wishes we didn't plan the vacation. But that too will change. Matts last story..What’s your barrier to action?